- Very happy to join Step12.com

Hi Dallas and all members of Step12.com I'm John and I have alcoholism. What an excellent site and forum this is! and I'm excited to be a part of it. There is so much great information and knowledge here to read, share and discuss.
I have found living sober to be a tough road for sure, however the rewards are awesome and there really isn't any alternative when it comes to drinking--- I've had my share of relapses and as AA says, it only gets progressively worse. There's a term for this progression, it's called "kindling", and simply means that withdrawals after having an alcohol bender will just become worse, more dangerous and life-threatening the more times an alcoholic relapses. Like many others, I've hit bottom a few times. Sometimes that is what it takes.
Anyhow, I'm thrilled to be able to get the chance to share on this site my experience, strength and hope.

I hope, pray and have faith we can make 2012 a wonderful sober year, one day at a time, even one hour at a time, and in the moment. Thank you very much for the great work here at Step12.com

Welcome John. Good to have you here. I have not heard the term "kindling" before but my sponsor did explain to me early on that the body of an alcoholic becomes more susceptible to the craving the more they drink.
Hope you enjoy the forum.

I appreciate your replies. Re-reading my introduction; I pretty much got in to it, huh? Just need a strong intro. to remind myself of the insidiousness of the disease, waiting to jump back in at any given moment if I let my guard down on it.
I'm currently reading a book called, "Now that You're Sober" by Ernie Larson. Excellent work.
I enjoy writing a lot, as if you couldn't tell, and reading obviously. Just finished up Melody Beattie's "Codependent No More", and will begin her book "Beyond Codependency".
I read daily meditation passages from "24-Hours-a-Day", "Until Today" by Iyanda Vanzant, and Beattie's "The Language of Letting Go", each morning to set a positive tone for the day.
Recovery is a lot of work, but as it's been said, we need to try and put as much time in our recovery as we did in our drinking. This site definitely helps me stay focused on that continuous goal.

I understand. Sobriety excites me and it's kept me sober & amazed over the last 25 yrs. I feed my recovery-reading addiction w/ the Big Book. I got sober and lived my first 8 yrs of sobriety in Los Angeles -- where I had many good speaker meetings to attend. I love speaker meetings. Where I live now -- I have to travel 120 to 200 miles to get to speaker meetings -- unless I'm at a convention, conference or round-up. So, I supplement my days by listening to speaker talks on CD and mp3 and then making copies of them to pass around to my local AA Fellows.

I think that staying happy in sobriety is vital to our continued recovery. And, like you mentioned -- if we even put a fraction of our time into recovery activity as we did into our drinking activity -- Life just keeps getting better and better and better. And, I get more happy time in sobriety.